“My biggest thing was, he not only cooperated, he told them some things that happened the night before and he took them along with him to who he thought might have tried to take his son,” Dawkins said.

Dawkins mentioned text messages reportedly sent to Shavard’s father by someone threatening him.

“They went ahead and took him into custody and we were basically told that they wanted to take his statement and he would be brought back home,” Dawkins said.

“After about two to three hours we didn’t see him.

“So we came back here at CDU and they told us that we couldn’t see him.

“And we asked exactly what was going on.

“They told us that we couldn’t see him.

“So my whole thing was, is he arrested?

“And why is the father of the missing child arrested?”

Dawkins claimed police told him the boy’s father was not under arrest but they were taking all precautions.

However, Dawkins said while he was speaking to an officer, the father walked out handcuffed to another man.

“I asked, ‘What is this? If he’s not arrested then why is he handcuffed?’,” said Dawkins, adding that Shavard’s father claimed police put his head in a fish bag.

Dawkins said at that, he “lost it”.

Shavard Bain Sr. was released from CDU while reporters were speaking to his relatives.

“They put two bags on me,” he said, his voice cracking as he spoke.

“They put two ziplock bags over my head and two guys sat on my chest and started slapping me and punching me.”

Asked how he feels about what transpired, he said, “I feel alright. I just want to see him right now and hold him.”

Laurent started at The Nassau Guardian in May 2018 as a paginator. He transitioned to reporting in February 2019. Laurent has covered multiple crime stories. He is the author of “Yello”, which was published in February 2019.Education: Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) 3rd Year